


Big Misunderstandings

by CQueen



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Cookies, Kidnapping, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-08-15
Packaged: 2017-12-20 16:15:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/889292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CQueen/pseuds/CQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec is kidnapped by a young, heartbroken warlock who decides to make Alec his own Dr. Phil instead of killing him. Meanwhile Magnus and co think Alec is in serious trouble and are out for the kidnapper's blood. Loads of misunderstandings ahead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Dangerous Cookie

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put all the characters in. Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

A Dangerous Cookie

Walking down the street Alec kept his head down, avoiding all eye contact as he made his way through the familiar streets. It was a habit he couldn't seem to break, the need for invisibility as ingrained as his survival instinct. He just wasn't good with people so it was better in his mind not to interact with them when he didn't need to.

Hands in his pockets Alec's stride slowed down as a scent reached his nose. A delicious, freshly baked cookie scent, that teased his nose unmercifully. He hadn't had lunch yet, he'd intended to grab something for himself and Magnus on his way to his warlock's loft. Stomach grumbling as he got closer and closer to the source of the scent Alec couldn't begin to imagine where it was coming from seeing as there wasn't a bakery anywhere nearby. But he was going to try and find out.

And then the people walking in front of Alec crossed the street and in doing so revealed the source of the smell, coming from the mouth of an alleyway.

The boy standing there looked sixteen at most, with white gold hair caught back in a braid that went half way down the kid's back. He was on the short side and slim, with very androgynous looking features. The boy was wearing sunglasses against the summer sun, so Alec couldn't see his eye color, but that wasn't what held Alec's interest. In the boy's hand was a platter piled high with cookies as big as his palm. Now that interested him quite a bit.

Not stopping to think about why no one else was pouncing on the cookies the way he wanted to Alec walked over to the boy, the boy smiling brightly in greeting.

"Hi, would you like to try a cookie?" The boy asked, holding out a cookie on a napkin. "A bakery is opening up a couple blocks from here soon and we're drumming up future business by showcasing what we'll be offering."

Accepting the cookie from the boy Alec bit in, making a sound of serious approval as the chocolatey goodness hit him. It was just beyond description. Wondering if he could buy some to take with him for Magnus Alec opened his mouth to ask, the words dying in his throat as he watched the boy tip the glasses up onto his blonde head, revealing golden eyes slitted like a cat's.

"You're a warlock."

"Yuppers." The young warlock agreed with a nod, still all smiles. "Did you like your cookie?"

Still surprised by the discovery Alec slowly nodded, wariness belated setting in.

"Good. Because that's the last thing you'll ever eat."

And those words were all Alec heard as he pitched forward, what was left of the cookie slipping out of his hand as he hit the ground with a thud.

Thanks to the glamour the warlock had erected, no one noticed.

)

Maia pressed the intercom to signal Magnus of their arrival while Isabelle and Clary stood slightly behind her, wondering if Alec was the reason Magnus was taking so long to answer. They hated to interrupt, but they'd been ordered by Isabelle's mother to drop off the package Isabelle held to Magnus ASAP and Mrs. Lightwood hadn't remembered to give to Alec before he'd left to spend the day with his man. They didn't dare return to the Institute without delivering it into Magnus's hands personally.

"Is he not home?"

The girls whirling around they stared at the man who'd approached them so silently. It was a warlock, one with curly chestnut hair and pale, ice blue eyes. He looked to be in his mid twenties and there was a very serious, mature air about him. He was dressed simply too, in total odds with Magnus's wardrobe. He would have looked completely normal if not for the cat ears on his head, the same color as his hair.

Answering the question before the girls could Magnus's voice came over the intercom. "Yes? Who is it?"

"Hey, Magnus, we just need to drop something off for you and then we'll scat." Maia told him, shooting a questioning glance at the other warlock before adding, "And there's a warlock down here who I think wants to talk to you too."

"It's Bryan Diggory, Bane." The warlock supplied, loud enough for Magnus to hear. "I just have a quick question for you and then I'll be on my way as well."

"Well fine, come on up, all of you. It's not like I have better things to do." The sarcasm was more than audible.

Everyone trooping up the stairs they were met at the top by Magnus, dressed for the day in a black leather vest and pants, with fringes dyed rainbow colors on the pockets and around the hems to keep it colorful. He'd added rainbow glitter to his black hair and around the tops of his eyes to go with his nails, which were also painted to resemble mini rainbows.

Crossing his arms Magnus gave Diggory a hard look before turning his attention to the girls and the package Isabelle held. "Why didn't your mother just give the package to my darling? Or is he too busy to come see me today?" Magnus added with a pout and wink.

"What do you mean?" Isabelle's face went puzzled. "He left two hours ago to come here. Mom forgot to give it to him before he left. He never showed up?"

"He hasn't been by yet." A considering look coming over the warlock's face Magnus motioned for them to come inside while he considered the possibilities. "Maybe he had some errands to do before he came. Ohhh, maybe he's got a surprise planned for me."

Clary shook her head, a look of worry crossing her face. "No…he said he was going to pick up some lunch on the way for the both of you."

Eyes narrowing Magnus's gaze flicked over to the other warlock, who was looking around his place with a grimace. No surprise, Diggory was as big a neat freak as Jace. Which was probably one of the many reasons why he and Diggory could never stand to be around each other for very long. Polar opposites, that was them. "Well before I go looking for my blue eyed boy, what do you want?" It wasn't like Diggory to ask for help, or to spend time with people period. Diggory was an extreme loner.

"I'm looking for my ward, Jaden Rivers. I wanted to ask you if he's been here." Pulling out his wallet the man flipped it to a picture and then held it out to Magnus, Maia and Clary crowding around to get a look while Isabelle tried to get her brother to answer his cell phone. The boy in the picture was very girlie looking with pale blonde hair and beautiful golden eyes. He had the sweetest grin on his face, the sort of smile that made you smile back despite yourself.

Magnus studied the picture for a moment and then shook his head as he handed the picture back to the man. "Nope. You think he's in trouble?"

The other warlock shoved a hand through his hair in exasperation. "I've been looking for him for a week. The only clue I had to go on was that a warlock of my acquaintance finally remembered Jaden asking a lot of questions about you. I thought maybe he decided to come meet you for some reason. Damn." And now how worried the man was became apparent in his eyes. "He's a sitting duck out there. Jaden's about as dangerous as a declawed kitten. Wandering off without even saying good bye…when I get my hands on him…"

The four observers all thought that when the warlock got ahold of the boy the boy was going to be hugged within an inch of his life.

"Well why don't we hit the streets and see if anyone has seen him or Alec?" Maia suggested, turning their attention back to the fact that Diggory wasn't the only one missing someone. Alec wasn't the type to pass up a chance to spend the day with Magnus, and the other warlock obviously cared a lot about his ward too. Two warlocks, both losing someone important to them at the same time, well that struck her as just plain suspicious.

Especially when a pale Isabelle announced she couldn't get Alec on his phone.

)

Groggy and a little lightheaded Alec woke up to the sound of someone crying. Eyes slowly flickering open Alec struggled to focus on the lone figure sitting cross legged on the floor in front of him. The boy looked vaguely familiar, Alec just putting the pieces together when the boy noticed that the Shadowhunter was awake and aware.

There was fear in the boy's eyes as he rubbed his eyes with his knuckles like a little boy before meeting Alec's gaze with pure misery. "You're going to kill me now, aren't you? It's only fair really, since I was going to kill you. Can we do it somewhere else though? I don't want Marcus to come home to find my body rotting in his living room."

Looking at the boy who'd given him the cookie, which must have been laced with something, Alec had no idea what to make of his current situation. He was lying on a very comfortable couch in a nicely decorated living room. He wasn't bound in any way and his instincts sensed no impending danger from another source. What the hell was going on?

Turning his attention to his kidnapper Alec had never seen such a sad excuse for a villain in his life. And he'd been forced to watch anime with Simon so that was saying something. "Why…were you going to kill me?"

The boy hung his head. "I was going to do it for Bryan, to make him happy. But he's right, I'm about as dangerous as a blade of grass. I really thought I could do it, since it was for him, but I just couldn't. I told myself you were a Shadowhunter and had probably killed lots of people, people with families, but I couldn't know that for sure and…and you have people who love you and stuff too." The boy's words dripped with misery. "That's why I untied you, even though I knew you'd kill me as soon as you woke up. I thought about untying you and then leaving, but what if the building caught on fire or one of Marcus's enemies broke in and found you here? Marcus has a lot of enemies and you are a Shadowhunter. A lot of Marcus's friends AND enemies hate you guys."

Alec tried to think of every Bryan he'd ever met but he couldn't think of any who would be happy to see him dead. "Why did this Bryan guy ask you to kill me, knowing you wouldn't be able to?"

"Oh he didn't ask me to. He would never do that." And now love and devotion came into the boy's eyes as he spoke of his guardian. "Bryan is my guardian, I went to live with him after my adoptive mother passed away. He tried to teach me how to be a warlock but I'm…I'm pretty hopeless. I'm a big disappointment to him. Anyway, he's the most important person to me and I want him to be happy, happier than anyone. And I…well he really likes Magnus Bane, but he's dating you so…so I thought that if you weren't in the picture anymore than maybe Bryan would make a move and they could live happily ever after. He's much too honorable to steal someone else's man…and he's…or maybe I'm just so jealous I wanted to hurt Magnus because the person I love most loves him instead of me." And now more tears started to glimmer and fall from the boy's cat like eyes. "I don't want to think I'm so horrible, but I can't stop thinking that maybe that's it and I'm just lying to myself. Either way I'm a horrible person. I never deserved any of Bryan's kindness."

Feeling a headache coming on Alec gingerly sat up, watching the boy with a mixture of bemusement and horror. He didn't know how to deal with his own, out of control feelings, dealing with someone else's was just out of his scope. He needed Clary or Luke, stat.

Sniffling the boy watched him closely. "Are you…going to kill me now? I wrote a good bye letter to Bryan while you were asleep…and I told him it was all my fault and not to try and kill you for killing me. He probably won't, and if he does I'm really, really sorry."

In exasperation Alec rolled his eyes at the boy. "I don't kill kids."

The young warlock blinked. "I'm over a hundred years old."

"Oh." Well the warlock still looked like and acted like a kid. There was no way he could kill the boy, especially since the kid had done such a lousy job kidnapping him in the first place. Though he'd give the warlock credit for the cookie ploy, it had been clever. He should have known better, Alec thought in disgust, annoyed with himself now instead of the boy. No wonder Isabelle and Jace hovered over him so, convinced he'd end up dead without their supervision.

"Well if you're not going to kill me I need some cookies. Cookies always make me feel better." Getting to his feet the boy wiped the new tears from his eyes, doing his best to not cry since it apparently made the Shadowhunter really uncomfortable. "You want any? They aren't laced with anything, I just put stuff in the one I gave you. I promise."

Rubbing his temples Alec shrugged his shoulders as he got to his feet, exasperated with both of them now. "Sure, why not."

Weaving a little as he got his bearings Alec happened to glance down, seeing immediately that all his clothing except for his boxers had been removed. His face going bright red Alec's voice was a froggy croak as he inquired as to where his clothes were, only to learn they'd been removed so that they could be washed. Apparently they'd gotten street grim on them when he'd hit pavement earlier and the kid had felt bad enough to laundry them for him.

And wasn't that just lovely?

Shaking his head at the crazy situations he found himself in Alec turned his attention to getting through the rest of the day without things getting worse. And once he'd gotten everything sorted out he was getting on the phone with Magnus and asking him just who this Bryan guy was, Alec thought darkly as he followed the boy out of the living room and into the kitchen.

And after the day he was having he had better like the answer or else.

)

Standing side by side at the mouth of an alleyway Magnus's eyes scanned the narrow space between buildings while Bryan studied a half eaten cookie he'd picked up off the ground.

"What's with the cookie?" Isabelle whispered to Clary, who just shrugged.

"Jaden's been here." Bryan answered, holding the cookie up. "He bakes when he's stressed and no one makes chocolate chip cookies as good as his. I'd know them anywhere by the scent alone. And there's definitely signs that he used some sort of glamour here, there are still traces of it left." Which surprised him, since Jaden's was usually pretty hopeless when it came to such things. The idea that the boy might have been in danger and had needed to hide behind a glamour occurred to him, making the warlock's stomach clench painfully. Jaden was his responsibility and he'd failed to keep him safe. He had enemies, enemies who would have leapt at the chance to steal his Jaden from him. The idea of his sweet, wouldn't harm a fly ward in the hands of his enemies made him feel ill.

Crouching down Magnus placed two fingers against the brick wall, his pupils dilating as he bit back a snarl. "This is Alec's blood. It was spilt within the last three hours."

"His blood!" Shouldering Magnus over to get a better look Isabella stared at the small, barely visible smear like it was her brother's dead body. "He's somewhere bleeding?"

"It's small, and he would have healed it easily." Clary pointed out, resting a hand on Isabelle's shoulder to comfort the girl. Ever since Max's death Isabelle had gone a little overboard worrying about her remaining brother's wellbeing. That he understood why she did it was the only reason Alec let her get away with it.

"Maybe someone attacked this Jaden kid and Alec got in the way." Maia suggested, doing her best to be the levelheaded one. "Which means that wherever they are they're probably together, which is a good thing. Alec will take care of him until we can figure out where they were taken."

"The timeline would fit." Bryan agreed, crossing his arms in front of him. He was no fan of the Shadowhunters, but if this particular one was involved with Bane than obviously he had no problem with warlocks. And the Shadowhunter would have the training needed to protect Jaden until he got there. And when that happened, he and Bane would take turns torturing the kidnappers to death.

Rising to his feet Magnus stared at his fingers for several moments before turning his head to meet Bryan's gaze. "We need to go back to my place. I have some of Alec's things there I can use to try and locate him. Do you have anything of Jaden's with you?"

Bryan nodded. "Not that it will do you any good. There are three skills Jaden has always surpassed me at and those are cooking, talking, and shielding himself from detection. That's why I haven't found him yet. If Jaden doesn't want to be found, he won't be."

Clary reached out to pat the warlock's shoulder now. "Well seeing as he's been kidnapped he'll want to be found, right? He's probably already taken his shields down so that we can find him."

"I'll find him whether he wants to be found or not." Was all Magnus said as he turned to leave.

He'd find a way.


	2. In Need of Therapy

In Need Of Therapy

The kitchen smelled utterly delicious, like it really was the bakery the warlock had pretended to work for. On the kitchen counters were three platters big enough for a turkey, piled high with cookies. Alec had never seen so many cookies in one place before. Amused, the Shadowhunter watched as the boy got out two large glasses and filled them with milk from the fridge. Milk and cookies, Alec thought with a small smile as he took the seat at the kitchen table while the boy loaded up a plate with various cookie piles.

"Here you go." Setting a glass in front of Alec Jaden smiled and then turned his attention to the mountains of cookies between them, seeing them through the Shadowhunter's eyes. "I uhm…bake when I'm stressed. I've had a very stressful week, trying to figure out how to catch and kill you. You have no idea how stressful planning someone's murder is."

"I see." Sipping some milk Alec reached out with his free hand and helped himself to a cookie, studying it warily before biting in. Even if it was laced with something he was pretty positive the kid had given up any thought of killing him. "So what is your name, anyway?"

"Oh, I beg your pardon!" Cheeks flushed, Jaden looked horrified at his bad manners. "How rude of me, so sorry. I'm Jaden, Jaden Rivers." Holding out his hand the warlock smiled when Alec reached out and shook his hand. "May I call you Alec? You can call me Jaden, everyone does."

Alec nodded his consent. "Nice to meet you, Jaden. Even under these unusual circumstances." Amused with both of them now Alec went back to eating his cookie, which was truly brilliant. The kid might be a bit psychotic, but he sure could bake. "So now that you've decided not to kill me…are you going to go back to this Bryan fellow? Your guardian."

Now Jaden looked close to crying again as he shook his head, swallowing his bite of cookie. "No. After what happened I can never go back."

"And what happened, exactly?"

Jaden didn't want to talk about it, but he figured that he owed the Shadowhunter for planning to kill him. "I love Bryan. I mean I really, really love him. And when you love someone that way you're supposed to tell them right? Everyone should know how they're loved and if you don't say it then how will you ever know how they feel about you and your feelings for them. So I decided that I had to tell him, even though I was pretty sure that he didn't feel that way about me. But I thought that maybe if he knew he'd at least give me a chance. So last Friday I planned a big dinner, making all his favorites for him. I set the table fancy, dressed in my favorite, best clothes, and even put on mood music. Than, after dinner, I told him how I felt." And now Jaden's eyes glimmered with unshed tears. "And he leaned forward, patted me on the head, and said 'I love you too, Kiddo'."

Alec winced in painfully sympathy, feeling the need to reach out and pat the boy's head too. And he'd thought he'd had it bad with Jace, Alec marveled. At least Jace hadn't meant to occasionally slice his heart into pieces. This Bryan assehole had not only known, but had verbally slapped at the kid by calling him kiddo to add to the insult. Magnus had been involved with a guy like that? No wonder they weren't together. Even if he were dead, Alec was sure now that Magnus would have nothing to do with this Bryan guy.

Probably.

Depending on what this Bryan guy looked like.

Wiping at his eyes again Jaden sighed, actually looking his age for a moment. "So you see, I can't go back. I don't know what I'm going to do now. I've never lived on my own before."

"I haven't either." Alec volunteered, though he was pretty sure he'd be better at it then Jaden. Though Jaden could cook and he couldn't, which was probably an advantage when one was on their own. "But you could probably get a job at a bakery." Pleased by the thought Alec felt quite proud of himself for coming up with such a perfect way for the boy to support himself.

"You think so? I don't have any job experience."

"Bring them some of your stuff and that will be all the experience they'll need." Alec assured him.

Lapsing into silence it was clear Jaden was giving it some serious thought.

"So the reason you planned to kill me was because he has a thing for Magnus and not you. Were they…involved before?" Calling himself every kind of idiot, Alec couldn't seem to stop himself from asking.

"I asked around but no one seemed to think so." Just the thought of Bryan with someone else had Jaden dunking half a cookie into his milk with far more force than necessary. "He never mentioned him, not even once. I wouldn't have even known how Bryan felt about him if I hadn't found the photograph while I was cleaning. Bryan has a picture of him…it was hidden in his bedside table. He doesn't have pictures of anyone, including me in his room."

Eyes narrowing Alec saw red as he imagined some faceless man with a picture of HIS Magnus in his bedroom dresser of all places. Imagining why the picture would be kept there had him squeezing down on his glass of milk, fissures appearing all over it before it exploded in his hand in a shower of glass and blood as the shards cut into his hand.

Yelping in surprise Jaden almost fell backward, his chair teetering before landing back on its legs. Staring in horror at the man's hand, blood streaming out in small rivets, Jaden's own hand shaking as he set his glass down.

Leaping into sudden action Jaden quickly got out of his seat and standing beside Alec began to carefully remove the remaining bits of glass from the man's hand. While the Shadowhunter apologized profusely for breaking the glass Jaden finished getting all the glass slivers out of Alec's hand and used his abilities to close the multiple wounds for him.

Carefully flexing his formerly injured hand Alec was disgusted with himself. What he'd done was just plain stupid. It wasn't like he wasn't well aware that Magnus had been with other men before him. The man wouldn't be that good in bed if he hadn't. Alec figured he was lucky if the warlock could remember the names of half the men he'd slept with who were still alive, much less dead. What was important was that he was it for Magnus now. What was in the past would stay there, Alec thought fiercely. Had to stay there if his relationship with the warlock was to continue during his lifetime.

Jaden patted Alec's shoulder in sympathy and understand. "I know how you feel. After I found that picture I burnt like four dozen cookies in a row."

Reaching out Alec patted Jaden's shoulder too.

They were quite the pair.

)

While Magnus set up for his searching spell the girls sat on the couch and watched Bryan pace back and forth like a jungle cat caged in a zoo. Not only did the man have the ears of a cat but the girls had soon noticed a strange twitching along the warlock's back, the shape giving away the fact that Diggory's baggy shirt hid a tail. They were dying to see it, but were smart enough to know that asking to see would probably end badly for them. This was a warlock on the edge.

"So you don't know why your ward left in the first place?" Clary asked, thinking to distract the poor warlock from his worries. Besides, she was curious about the kid now and it distracted her from worrying about Alec.

Looking over Bryan shook his head. "I haven't a clue. I've wracked my brain trying to come up with something…but it just doesn't make any sense. He was fine on Friday. He seemed even happier and more wired than normal. The only thing strange that happened that day was that he went all fancy with dinner." Blowing his bangs out of his eyes Bryan went back to pacing, finding comfort in at least moving.

Maia gave him a questioning look. "Did he leave a note?" She'd left a note for her parents, not that they'd deserved one.

"Yeah, it just said not to look for him and that he hoped I'd be happy. Happy. Do I look happy to any of you?"

The girls shook their head in unison.

"Exactly." Feeling somehow vindicated Bryan felt a little better, knowing that they agreed that his ward had temporarily lost him mind.

Ignoring the lot of them Magnus did a last minute check in his mind, his white knuckles the only sign of his runaway emotions. In one hand he held a shirt that Alec had left behind a couple weeks ago, probably because it was one he'd bought for his Shadowhunter. Alec didn't wear bright colors for anyone but him. As soon as he got ahold of his man he was going to get the man out of whatever clothes the Shadowhunter was wearing, screw him blind, deaf and brainless, and then make sure he left wearing the shirt he held now.

And that was if he ever let Alec out of his sight again.

Which at this point sounded like a bad idea to him.

"Are you ready yet?" Bryan asked, interrupting Magnus's thoughts.

"Bite me, Diggory."

"They really don't like each other." Isabelle whispered to Clary, this not being the first insult they'd hurled at each other.

"No kidding." The redhead whispered back.

"You two cannot begin to comprehend how much we hate each other." Bryan decreed with a dark look in Magnus's direction. "Now be quiet so that Hedgehog Head can find Jaden."

"Oh shove your tail up your ass, Diggory."

Bright color appearing along Bryan's cheekbones it was obvious how much he hated being reminded that he had a tail. And Bane knew just how much he hated his tail, which was why the girlie boy had brought it up in the first place. Ears twitching in annoyance Bryan had to remind himself over and over again that he needed the other warlock in one piece.

At least until Jaden was safe.

Then all bets were off.

Finally everything was ready and Magnus began to search for Alec, flickering lights and hazy images appearing on the bare wall Magnus was facing. His face scrunched up in concentration Magnus hissed in frustration as the pictures refused to solidify into recognizable objects. "There are shields around wherever he is. I'm going to stop trying to focus in on just him and try to get whatever images I can from whatever's happened to him recently."

And now clear pictures appeared on the wall, appearing and then disappearing once Magnus got a good look at it. And a number of the images made his blood run cold.

The face of a boy they all recognized now as Jaden Rivers.

The alleyway where they had found the cookie and Alec's blood.

An apartment building.

Alec, lying unconscious on a couch, his hands bound behind his head.

Alec, unconscious and now bare-chested, with some unseen person undoing his belt buckle.

A small, slender hand clutching a butcher knife at a jeaned side, walking towards the couch Alec was lying on.

A hand marked with the scars of past runes dripping blood.

And strangest of all, several platters worth of cookies on a kitchen counter.

)

Helping Jaden clean up the mess he'd made Alec happened to see the clock, wincing at the time. So much for spending half the day with Magnus, he thought sadly. Even if he left now the warlock would probably be off doing something or catching a quick nap before heading off to some party somewhere. Oh well, what else was new, Alec thought with a sigh. Something strange always seemed to come up whenever they thought they had free time together. Maybe he'd pick up a Gerard Butler movie on his way home and veg with Isabelle instead. Provided she wasn't off partying somewhere too.

These thoughts led him to another idea, one that had him looking over at Jaden questioningly. "Where did you put my phone? I need to make a quick call." Even if he wasn't going to get to see Magnus he wanted to at least text him a quick message in case the man wouldn't mind him dropping by late.

Jaden winced. "You…ah…sorta smashed it when you fell. Your skele is in the living room with your wallet and stuff though. The uh…pieces of your phone are there too. I didn't think I should throw them out without your permission."

That figured. Just his rotten luck.

Heading into the living room Alec confirmed that his phone was indeed a dead loss before returning to the kitchen to see if Jaden could lend him one.

Feeling bad Jaden tried to think of an alternative since he didn't own a cell phone. "You can use Marcus's phone." He finally offered. "He told me not to let anyone use it, but I'm sure its okay since it's important. I'll reimburse him if he gets upset, it's the least I can do."

"Thanks." Walking over to the kitchen phone Alec picked it up and dialed Magnus's cell phone number from memory. Frustrated when the warlock didn't pick up Alec sighed and began to leave a message, his brows furrowing together as he felt a strange, warming sensation in his right hand as he spoke into the machine. A bad feeling coming over him Alec turned to look in Jaden's direction, suddenly remembering that the boy had said the apartment's owner had stated that no one but the boy could use the phone. Starting to ask the boy if the other warlock had mentioned why only Jaden could use it Alec didn't get to finish his question. The phone suddenly becoming too hot to handle Alec instinctively let it go with a loud curse, the phone exploding in mid air.

"Wow." Coming over to stand beside Alec Jaden stared down at what was left of the phone. "It never did that when I used it to order takeout."

Waving his hand around Alec walked over to the sink, running cold water over his now blistering hand. "It must be booby trapped against non warlocks."

"Oh." That made sense. Marcus was a very paranoid person. "Is your hand okay?"

"Yeah, I'm getting used to things exploding in it."

"On the A side your clothes are probably dry now." Jaden offered, trying to look on the positive side.

"Well that's something at least."

That way, when the next disaster hit, he'd at least be dressed.

)

While the warlocks argued about how to proceed and whether there was much point in Magnus's doing a search for Jaden too, Maia's sensitive ears happened to pick up on a strange buzzing noise. Eager for any distraction the werewolf got up and followed the sound, locating the source on one of Magus's tables/doors. Picking up the cell phone, which had been set on vibrate, Maia studied the readout before walking over to Magnus.

"This is yours right? You have a message."

Bryan glared at her. "We're a little busy right now. His social life will have to wait a minute."

Ignoring the man Magnus took the phone from her, having set it aside so that it wouldn't be affected by his searching spell. Flipping it open to access the call Magnus frowned when he saw the number listed. "I don't recognize this number, but this is my personal cell, I don't give this number out to clients."

"Could it be the kidnappers?" Isabelle asked, hurrying over to join them with Clary at her heels. Whatever the brother molesting bastards wanted she'd give it to them. And then she'd cut off their balls and make them eat them, she thought fiercely. No one was taking another brother away from her. No one.

Thinking the same thing Magnus motioned to her to be quiet before turning the phone onto speaker, accessing and then hitting the button to hear the lone message.

"Hey, it's me. Look, something's come up and I'll probably be a little tied up for the next couple hours. Would it be alright if I dropped by a little late or do you-uh oh…that can't be good. Jaden, you know how you said-OH FUCK!"

And then there was simply dial tone.

"Alec said the F-word." Isabelle breathed in surprise.

"Not a good sign." Maia agreed.

"But at least they must have gotten away from the bad guys if they had access to a phone." Clary pointed out, trying to look on the bight side of things. "And Alec didn't sound terribly worried or upset during the first part."

"Whoever hurt him is dead." Magnus snarled, assuming the worst.

"On that we can agree." Bryan resorted, cracking his knuckles.


	3. Finding His Man

Finding His Man

The loft suddenly began to shake, Bryan the only one who realized that Magnus was causing it. While the girls struggled to remain on their feet Bryan walked over and placed hands on the other warlock's shoulders, shaking lightly. "Snap out of it, Bane. He's fine. If he wasn't he wouldn't have talked like that. If your man had been raped and pillaged he wouldn't have been trying to make a fuck date with you later. He and Jaden got away from whoever had them and they're fine. That end part wasn't fear or worry, it was just serious annoyance."

Blinking several times, the loft started to settle down as Magnus curtly nodded, the fury in his golden eyes settling down to a simmer.

"And we can find them easier now."

Both warlocks turned their attention to Maia.

"What do you mean?" Magnus asked, turning his piercing stare in her direction.

Maia gave them a look that said she thought they were idiots. "He just used a phone, duh. All we have to do is trace the phone number and find out who it belongs to. The number used was a city area code, maybe even the phone from the apartment they're in."

"How would we do that though?" Clary asked.

"Easy. A member of my pack is a computer hacker." Maia grinned. "He can find the info we need as easy as taking candy from a baby."

"Then let's go and find this hacker." Isabelle announced, motioning for the others to follow her on the way to the door.

)

Now fully dressed and feeling a little better Alec came back into the kitchen to discover that Jaden had cleaned up the mess that the exploding phone had caused so that the kitchen was as spotless as a showroom gallery.

Shoving his hands into his pockets Alec decided to take it as a good sign that Jaden was putting away the cookies, setting them into various Tupperware containers for storage. If the kid ate cookies when he was upset than putting them away must be a sign he was feeling better about the situation.

Walking over Alec leaned against the counter, helping himself to a cookie Jaden had yet to pack away. "What are you going to do with them all?"

Jaden looked over. "I'm going to put them in a freezer for Marcus. It was the deal we struck when he agreed to met me stay here for a couple weeks. I've almost got his freezer stocked full of food. He hates cooking, and I don't like him stealing other people's food when they worked hard to make it."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "A warlock who disapproves of appropriating things that aren't theirs? Most unusual."

Jaden shrugged. "My adopted mother was Catholic. I'm sorta one too. Being part demon, it's sort of hard for me to be one, but I try."

"I'm pretty sure that 'thou shall not kill' is a Catholic rule."

"Hence the fact that I didn't kill you." Jaden answered with a wry grin. "I figured that, when you love someone, you should be willing to go to hell and back for them. And since I'm probably going to hell anyway by virtue of what I am, well I figured…at least I should go for a good reason. But when it came to the sticking point, well, my mother taught me too well. That's part of the reason I'm such a failure as a warlock too. I don't believe in stealing either."

"I see. Just how were you going to kill me anyway? Out of morbid curiosity."

"Well I was going to just poison the cookie, but death by cookie seemed a really humiliating way for a Shadowhunter to die. I didn't want to disgrace your memory, especially since you fought in the war and helped save the world from Valentine. Then I thought about running you over with a car, but that seemed both wrong and really messy. I finally decided on a single stab wound to the heart because it would be quick and a manly way to die too. I don't know that much about human anatomy, but I figure that if I used a big enough knife I'd definitely hit it with one blow so I was going to use one of the kitchen butcher knives. But then I started to second guess that idea too…and well…again, I just can't kill someone. Not even for Bryan."

Reaching out Alec patted the boy's shoulder. "I'm sure that if you absolutely had to you'd be able to kill to protect him. I don't like killing anything or anyone for any reason other than that."

Jaden gave him a sympathetic look. "That must be tough, seeing as you're a Shadowhunter."

Boy was it ever. But that was what happened when you were born into a Shadowhunter family. Your fate was sealed from day one.

Fidgeting a little, it was obvious that Jaden wanted to ask him something but didn't have the courage to do so. He'd been the same way when he was little. Unlike Max and Isabelle, he'd never felt comfortable expressing what he wanted to others. Even to those closest to him. He'd always felt selfish about asking them for things, even knowing that they wouldn't know what he wanted otherwise.

It was one of the many reasons why people never seemed to understand him.

Taking pity on the boy Alec once again went out of his comfort zone and reached out to ruffle the boy's hair. He wasn't a toucher by nature, but the kid seemed in need of comfort and he was the only one around to provide it. "What is it you want to ask me?"

Shuffling his feet Jaden looked like a kid about to admit to hitting a ball through a window. "Do you…maybe want to hang out for a little while? I mean…I know you were on your way to Bane's place…and you told him you would be coming by…but you said late and it's not that late yet. We're not that far from his loft actually, only ten blocks or so."

Well, given the crappy phone message he'd left for Magnus, Alec figured his lover wouldn't be expecting him for a while, if at all. And he was a little worried about leaving the boy alone in less than a good frame of mind. He didn't think the warlock would do something stupid like take his own life, but it was probably possible to go into a sugar coma from eating too many cookies. Especially cookies like the kid made.

"Sure. I can stay a little bit."

)

Thanks to the hacker in Maia's pack everyone now stood in front of the apartment building they recognized from the images Magnus had produced. They had been joined by Jace, who had been called in by Clary once they were sure that Alec was in need of their rescuing. At this point, they didn't know who or what they were dealing with exactly.

Going into the building together they headed for the elevator, armed to the teeth and ready to roll.

All they knew was that the apartment belonged to a friend of Jaden's name Marcus. According to Bryan the warlock would never harm a hair on the boy's head and therefore it was more likely that this was where Jaden had been hiding out. They all just hoped that Alec and Jaden were still there and in one piece.

Arriving on the correct floor Bryan and Magnus took the front with Jace right behind them, followed by the girls who were just as ready to kick ass. Jace was only behind the warlocks because Clary had taken him aside and made him promise to let them without interference.

Using his magic to unlock the door and the shields around it, Magnus pushed the door open and marched down the hallway, Bryan shoulder to shoulder with him as they strided towards the living room.

Exiting the hallway the two turned automatically, their senses honed to sense the presence of others. And there was Alec standing with body braced to defend, with a set of arms wrapped around his waist, Jaden's head poking around Alec's shoulder to take in the situation.

"Jaden."

The boy's eyes widened at the sound of Bryan's voice, his head disappearing behind Alec's broad back with a defensive jerk.

"Magnus." Surprise written all over his face Alec's eyebrows raised to his hairline as everyone else filed into the room, all seeming prepared for battle. "What are you all doing here?" Had the warlock who owned the apartment done something wrong?

Squeezing past the warlocks Isabelle ran over to her brother, throwing her arms around his neck. "Oh, Alec, you're all right!"

"Of course I'm all right. Why wouldn't I be?" Returning the hug automatically as she mumbled a reply Alec had eyes only for Magnus, knowing his man well enough to know that something was very, very wrong with him. Acting on instinct Alec very carefully detangling himself from his sister and kissed her forehead to stop her protests. Once he was sure she wasn't going to fling herself at him against Alec made his way over to Magnus, Jaden still clinging to his back like a limpet. Walking to stand in front of his lover Alec reached out and framed the man's face between his hands, his eyes asking what was wrong as he waited for an answer.

Eyes closing Magnus set his hands over Alec's, soaking in the feel of Alec's touch and the knowledge that his love was all right and unharmed.

Ignoring the lovey dovey display Bryan moved to jerk Jaden away from the Shadowhunter, Jaden reacting by clinging tighter so that Bryan ended up pulling Alec away from Magnus in the process, much to the warlock's considerable annoyance.

"Damn it, Diggory." Grabbing Alec's arm Magnus pulled the Shadowhunter back towards him, Jaden stumbling as he tried to remain on his feet as the two older warlocks fought to move him and Alec around.

"Like two kids fighting over a toy in daycare." Maia muttered, walking over to play referee. As funny as it was, they still needed some answers and Alec wasn't going to answer them if he was too busy having his arms pulled out of their sockets.

Whistling loudly Maia was pleased when that gained her all their attentions. "Okay, first off, Alec, is there any danger here we need to know about?"

Raising an eyebrow Alec shook his head. "No. Is that what Isabelle meant? You thought I was in trouble? Because of the phone message?" He'd just thought it weird.

"Among other things. So you and this kid weren't kidnapped?"

Alec didn't quite know how to answer that without getting Jaden into loads of trouble. Well that and if the kid squeezed his waist any tighter Alec was afraid he'd end up with some broken ribs. Obviously the boy was scared spit less at the idea of how Magnus might retaliate for what he'd done. Alec couldn't blame Jaden either. He'd be scared spit less too in the kid's shoes.

"It was my fault." Jaden admitted in a small voice, very slowly peeking his head out from behind Alec's back to give Magnus a soulful look. He wanted to keep hiding behind Alec, but that wasn't fair or remotely brave. And he did want to be brave, or at least braver. "I'm very, very, sorry that you were all worried about Alec, and that you thought something bad had happened to him. I hope you won't kill me." Jaden added as an afterthought. "Though I will understand if you do."

"Kill you?" Bryan repeated, eyes narrowing. "Jaden…exactly how do you figure into this? How is it your fault?"

"I uhm….sorta kidnapped Alec."

While everyone else gaped in shocked silence Jace said what everyone else was thinking. "How could a little kid like you take Alec down?"

Shoulders straightening defensively Alec's cheeks went a little pink. "Hey, if he'd offered you one of his chocolate chip cookies you'd have ended up here too."

"You were taken down by a cookie?"

Alec's glare said it all.

"I really do make the best cookies ever." Jaden offered, having retreated back behind the Shadowhunter's back. He had not liked the way Magnus Bane was staring at him at all. Who thought someone rainbow colored could be so scary? Keeping Alec between them was possibly the only way he was going to survive.

"I saw an image of your hand covered in blood." Magnus stated abruptly, turning his attention to Alec. He was still having a hard time processing the idea that his lover could have been kidnapped by the kid behaving so childishly.

"Oh…I…uhm…broke a glass in my hand. It's fine now, Jaden took care of it." Alec held up the hand in question so that Magnus could see his lack of injury for himself. "And sorry about that phone message, the warlock who owns this apartment apparently bespelled the phone to blow up when used by someone who's not a warlock."

"It made a real mess." Jaden agreed.

Marching over to the young warlock's side Isabelle tapped his shoulder until he turned to look at her, still plastered up against her brother. "So why exactly did you kidnap and strip my big brother?" Her arms crossed in front of her, Isabelle's expression said that his answer better be pretty damn good if he wanted to live.

Blushing, Jaden's grip on Alec tightened again, unable to see how much this was bugging the hell out of the other two warlocks in the room. "I….uhm…you see…his clothes were dirty, so I just wanted to wash them for him before the stains set in." He mumbled, deliberately skipping the first part of the question.

Once again, everyone gaped at the boy like he was an alien from another planet.

Rubbing his temples, especially as he recalled all the things he'd intended to do to the bastard who'd put his hands on Alec, Magnus didn't know what to think or do anymore. Alec was his and his alone to touch, but somehow this kid touching Alec seemed…well, like a kid had touched Alec and therefore he had nothing to be upset about.

But if the brat didn't let go of Alec soon he was probably going to have to hurt him.

His cheeks flushed, especially since he had a pretty good idea what they'd all thought his clothing removal meant, Alec thought it wise to change the subject to something that wouldn't cause him extreme embarrassment.

"So you're Bryan Diggory." He said, looking in the direction of the coldly furious warlock. "I know why everyone else is here but you."

"I've come to take Jaden home."

Jaden's head once again peeked out from behind Alec. "I'm not going home with you. I'm staying in New York and I'm going to get a job and I'm going to support myself. Alec will help me, he promised."

"And I promised your mother that I would take care of you." Bryan grounded out, his face furious even as his eyes betrayed the pain he felt at Jaden's rejection of him.

But hidden as he was behind Alec, Jaden didn't see it.

"I'm staying with Alec!"

Magnus gave his boyfriend a look that said plainly he did not like this idea at all.

"You're bringing him home with you?" Isabelle asked, giving her brother a shocked look. "Like a stray puppy?" Not that she could blame her brother, Jaden was fairly adorable, but still…their parents were still getting used to the fact that Alec was gay. Bringing another warlock into their family would not go over well.

"Oh this will be good." Jace smirked, wincing slightly when Clary jammed her elbow into his side in response to his words. "Oww."

"You are coming home with me, Jaden Rivers, and that's final!"

"You realize you aren't helping matters at all." Magnus pointed out, glaring at the other warlock. He was never going to get rid of the boy and have Alec all to himself if the annoying bastard did nothing but yell at the kid.

Bryan's blue eyes went cold as ice as he struggled to maintain control. "Shut up, Bane. This doesn't concern you."

"Doesn't concern me?" Golden eyes narrowing Magnus turned all his attention to Bryan, the air beginning to crackle with his fury. "How does this not concern me? Your idiot ward kidnapped my lover and is now clinging to him like a preschooler being dropped off at daycare! If we wanted kids we'd have done something about it already!"

"Would that make Alec my dad?" Jaden asked, intrigued by the warlock's words. "I've always wanted a dad, and Alec would be a great one."

"I would be your Auntie Izzy then." Isabelle giggled, her hands moving to cover her mouth as her eyes danced in merriment.

Alec would have glared at his sister if moving had been easier. "Don't encourage them." Shaking his head Alec could see the night only getting worse from here on in, which really shouldn't be possible but there you go. Such was his life.

Taking pity on Alec Clary decided to give him a hand. "Jaden…why don't you want to go home with Bryan? He's been really worried about you, you know. He was looking everywhere for you and even came to Magnus for help."

"I brought them together?" Jaden's voice was a mixture of shock and horror. "Alec…I'm so, so sorry!"

Understanding his apology Alec reached up to pat one of Jaden's hands since it wasn't like he could contort himself enough to pat Jaden's head in his present position. "No worries. Or at least I'm not worried. They don't seem to like each other at all."

"WE HATE EACH OTHER." Magnus and Bryan said together with feeling.

"Wait…what?" Jaden was so shocked he let go of Alec, coming around so that he could stare at the two without Alec acting as a barrier. "What do you mean you two hate each other?"


	4. Explanations Given

Explanations Given

"Why do you look so surprised?" Bryan wanted to know, especially since he'd never mentioned the warlock to Jaden before. He hated even thinking about the other man's existence. "I mean seriously, why would you think I'd like anything about this drag queen wannabe? I'd sooner stick my head into a blender and hit puree than be around him a minute longer! But I am, for you, and I would appreciate some credit for that!"

"A wannabe drag queen?" Eyes literally flaming up Magnus took a threatening towards the other warlock, Alec reaching out to restrain him. "Don't even think of stopping me from incinerating him."

"But I don't understand." Jaden all but wailed from Alec's side. "If you don't like him than why do you have his picture?"

"You have my picture?" Magnus went from furious to totally horrified in less than a second.

"Not like that! I throw darts at it." Bryan's face was absolutely mortified. "It's a stress reliever. Therapeutic. And how do you know I've got that picture anyway?"

"You throw darts at a picture of me?"

"You throw darts at my boyfriend?"

"Uhm guys…Jaden…."

Everyone automatically looking in Jaden's direction at Clary's words, concern came over some of their faces as they saw that the boy had gone pale white and appeared to be hyperventilating.

"Crap." Staring at the kid Alec clued in immediately to what was wrong. Jaden now knew that he'd almost killed someone for no good reason. Uh oh.

Moving instinctively Alec grabbed the boy and led him over to the nearest sofa, pointing his finger in Clary's direction since he trusted her the most in these sorts of situations. "Pat his head a lot and keep him calm until I get back." Heading for the kitchen he called out for her to keep Bryan away from the kid too.

Doing as Alec asked Clary hurried over to the boy's side, stroking his head while her boyfriend scowled at the action. Isabelle tried to coach Jaden on his breathing, but it wasn't having much effect on him. Bryan had come over as soon as he'd seen Jaden's condition, but seeing that his presence just made things worse the warlock had backed off with serious hurt and confusion in his eyes.

Returning in seconds Alec hurried to kneel in front of Jaden and unceremoniously shoved a cookie in the boy's mouth.

Jaden made a choking sound and then reaching up to grab the cookie quickly ate it in three quick gulps, immediately reaching out for the other cookie Alec had brought along just in case.

"Why is he so upset?" Magnus wanted to know, setting a restraining hand on Alec's shoulder. He was getting damn tired of his man fussing over the kid. The kid belonged to Diggory and any fussing should be coming from that moron. He reserved all rights where Alec's fussing was concerned and he was not the sharing type.

"He thought Diggory had a thing for you." Alec explained, guessing that an explanation for Jaden's behavior needed to be given whether the boy liked it or not. "He was going to kill me so that I'd be out of the way. He wanted to do that for Bryan…to make him happy. He now knows that if he'd killed me he would have damned himself for no reason. He's justifiably upset." Alec added, not wanting to upset Jaden anymore than he already was.

"No…there's some mistake…and Jaden could never…kill anyone." Bryan walked over to sit on one of the chairs, staring at his ward like he'd never seen the boy before in his life.

"Hence the fact that Alec is still alive." Maia pointed out dryly.

"But there were no holes in the picture." Jaden said weakly, cookie less now and just holding on by a thread.

Bryan's response was just as weak. "I repair it after I obliterate it. Like I'd want to have a bunch of pictures of Bane lying around, even knowing I'd be destroying them later. I get nauseated just being this close to him. It's going to take me weeks to get all the glitter off me and I've only been around him for a few hours!"

"Oh shut up, you assehole." Magnus snarled, no happier than his adversary. "Why don't you stand in the middle of the nearest highway and become roadkill. It would be a vast improvement."

Simultaneously the two started choking, both using their powers to cut off the other's air supply.

Also moving simultaneously Alec went straight at Bryan, Jaden at Magnus. Bryan ducked Alec's first punch but took the second hard, his head snapping back from the blow as he fell on his ass. Both of Jaden's punches missed but Jaden used his magic to send Magnus flying back into the nearest wall through sheer dumb luck.

Needless to say the two older warlocks forgot their need to choke each other as their attackers left them to run over to the side of their important person, helping their loved ones to their feet with much concern.

"We are not adopting that kid." Magnus's voice broke no argument as he got his breath back.

"Are you okay, Bryan?" Framing his guardian's face between his hands Jaden stared at the bruising appearing all around the older man's right eye. Whirling around Jaden glared at Alec. "You shouldn't have hit him! Do you know how old he is? You hit a senior citizen!"

Snickering over that Magnus leaned against Alec, though not for support. He just liked the excuse to cuddle against his boyfriend in public. And nobody could argue that he'd earned a little TLC.

"You attacked Magnus too." Alec pointed out, wrapping his arms protectively around Magnus. "That's what you do when someone's attacking someone you care about."

"Bryan's older." Jaden muttered.

Unlike Magnus Bryan wasn't overly sensitive about his age, but even he was a little annoyed that his ward was making it sound like he was ready for the home. But still…Jaden had taken on one of the biggest, baddest, warlocks in history for his sake. Bane might dress like a fairy but he sure as hell didn't fight like one. And Jaden, his little Jaden, had faced the bastard down without an ounce of fear. For him.

)

"Jaden." Setting his hands on Jaden's shoulders Bryan's gaze softened for a moment, then hardened as something else occurred to him. "YOU LITTLE IDIOT! What were you thinking? Bane could kill you without even trying! Don't you ever pick a fight with him again, you hear me?"

Blinking in shock Jaden obviously didn't know whether to cry or argue. He chose to argue. "I was thinking he was choking you! Of course I had to try and stop him! And how can you yell at me? I was prepared to kill someone for you, you assehole! If I'm willing to do that then I'm sure as hell willing to die for you!"

Bryan's surprise was written all over his face. He was obviously not used to Jaden talking back to him.

"Out of morbid curiosity…why do you two hate each other so much?" Maia asked, thinking that the two got along even worse than her kind with vampires. Or how they'd gotten along before the alliances and her friendship with Simon.

Magnus and Bryan opened their mouths but no sound came out, a confused look coming over both their faces as they sunk into deep thought. Turning to look at each other the two warlocks both tried to remember just what had precipitated their deep and abiding hatred for each other. But it had been centuries, and they'd avoided each other like the plague since…why did they hate each other so much?

"Uhm…didn't you…take Eastwood's side in that bar fight…" Magnus began slowly, his voice very unsure as he struggled to search through his oldest memories for a clue.

"No, you took his side, remember…right?" Damn, getting old sucked, Bryan thought as he tried to remember just what had turned them into lifelong enemies. "Were you the one who cause my ears and tail to glow in the dark?"

"Please, like I couldn't have done way worse than that." Magnus shook his head at the other warlock's stupidity. He was pretty sure he'd once given Bryan a set of whiskers to go with his ears and tail, but he saw no reason to bring that up. And speaking of changing…"Oh yeah…maybe….were you the one who turned my hair into poisonous snakes for fifteen years?"

Bryan rolled his eyes. "No, stupid, that was Aten Setsuna. He caught you ogling his little brother while the narcissistic twit was skinny dipping, remember?"

"Oh right. So not worth it in the long run either. You should have seen that brother of his once he hit twenty. The boy went from stud to spud so fast and brutally that it's a wonder he didn't turn people into stone on sight."

Rolling her eyes Isabelle's hands went to her hips as she interpreted their trips down memory lane to mean they were both clueless. "You idiots don't even remember why you fight all the time, do you?"

Magnus's cheeks actually flushed a little. "I have a damn good reason for hating him. I just can't remember what it is right now. It will come to me though, don't think it won't! And that doesn't matter anyway, since I now have plenty of reasons to hate him all over again."

"Ditto." Glaring at Magnus Bryan wasn't about to admit he was embarrassed by his bad memory either. "Who wouldn't hate someone who dresses up like a living rainbow?"

"Children?"

Everyone looked in Clary's direction, the girl shrugging in response. "I'm just saying…kids like bright colors."

Okay, it was in everyone's best interest for Magnus and the Diggory guy to be separated, Alec decided, turning his gaze back to Jaden. "Jaden…do you want to go with Diggory or do you still want to stay in the city? If you want to go live with the werewolves than Maia can take you back with her and she can introduce you to Luke. He'll put you up."

"Wait…what…you're sending him to live with werewolves? To be friggin eaten?"

"Hey." Maia sent Bryan a harsh look, not appreciating the dig. "We wouldn't eat him. Even if we were cannibals we still wouldn't. There's no meat on him. And why do you want to send him home with me? I thought you wanted to adopt him."

It was Jaden who answered. "Because I want to earn my keep. I can't do that at the Institute. I can cook and clean for you guys though, and then when I've saved up enough money…maybe I'll be able to open my own bakery, just like I pretended I was."

"You want to open up a bakery?" Bryan's surprise was obvious. "You never told me that before."

"I didn't know I could. But Alec says I'm good enough."

"And his opinion means more to you than me." Bryan finished, shoving his hands in his pockets, ducking his head for a moment so that mo one could see how he felt about that. When he looked up his face was resolute. "Fine then…I'll leave you to your precious Alec."

Turning on his heels Bryan headed for the door, a distraught Jaden gazing after him.

)

On a muffled curse Alec shrugged off Magnus's hold and ran after the warlock, catching him just as the older man reached the door leading out of the apartment. Forgetting that everyone was probably listening in Alec grabbed the man's arm and spun him around so that the warlock was facing him.

"What is with you? Why are you acting like the hurt party here?"

"Don't think being Bane's boy toy will save you from my wrath." Bryan warned coldly, his finger tips beginning to glow for extra effect.

Alec had been threatened too often to take offense or react. "You're avoiding the question. Given what happened the night Jaden left I'd think you'd be glad to be rid of him. But you aren't acting like a man who came after his ward because of some promise you made a century ago to someone long dead. It hurts you that he doesn't want to be around you. So why did you hurt him the way you did?"

Bryan's harsh expression became confused. "What are you talking about? I would never hurt Jaden."

Instincts saying that the warlock was being truthful Alec had a sudden, very bad thought. It shouldn't be possible, not even Jace was that thick, but maybe, just maybe…the warlock hadn't understood Jaden's declaration at all.

"What was the last thing Jaden said to you before he left the table that night?"

Even more puzzled Bryan shrugged, not seeing where this was going at all. "That he loves me. He get's mushy like that sometimes. What's that got to do with anything? Especially since he obviously didn't mean it."

"I did too mean it!"

Both men turned to see a furious Jaden glaring at Bryan like he'd committed some cardinal sin. The girls, sensing what must have happened, glared at the warlock too.

Such typical male stupidity. What would they do without women?

Looking over Alec gave Jaden a truly sympathetic look. "Jaden…I think he might be genuinely clueless as to why you left him. I don't think he got what you meant that night even though someone as clueless as Jace would have gotten it." Ignoring Jace's reaction to that Alec concentrated on Jaden while keeping a firm grip on Bryan's arm.

Confusion was all over Jaden's face now as he looked back and forth between the two men. "What do you mean…he didn't get it?"

"I mean he didn't understand that what you said that night was any different from what you said every other night to him."

"What?" Blinking a couple times as the light slowly dawned, Bryan's full attention turning to Jaden too.

Shaking his head slowly Jaden's brain just wasn't up to even computing the possibility. "No...no, you're wrong. He understood; there's no way he couldn't have understood. Not even a single celled organism could have misunderstood. Bryan's smart, smarter than anyone. There's no way…right? There's no way you didn't understand what I meant, Bryan." Jaden looked at Bryan pleadingly.

Once again Bryan found himself frantically recalling a scene from his past, this one a lot more recent though. Doing his best to remember everything they'd said and talked about over dinner that night Bryan still wasn't getting it until he considered what the Shadowhunter had said to him earlier. Bane's boy toy had asked him what was the last thing Jaden had said to him, and then Lightwood had told Jaden that he hadn't understood that what he'd said had meant something else that night. The last thing Jaden had said was 'I love you'…and Jaden had apparently meant that in a way he hadn't meant it before.

"Jaden." Realization coming over his face Bryan gaped at the boy. "Were you trying to…did you mean that…"

Watching him stumble over his words Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Geez, he's even worse than Alec."

"I heard that."

)

Deciding to take a page from his boyfriend's book Magnus took charge and grabbed Jaden by the arm, dragging the shocked boy over to Bryan. All but swinging the boy into Bryan's chest Magnus pointed a warning finger in his enemy's direction. "You and your 'ward' need to talk. Start talking. And Jaden, Bryan is not smart, so talk frankly or he won't get it. Draw pictures and diagrams on the wall if need be."

Tugging his boyfriend away from the two, Magnus pulled Alec out of the hallway and back into the living room, leaving the two morons to hash it out between them. "Alec and I need to talk so you all go into the kitchen and eat cookies." He announced, his voice broking no argument.

"Are they safe to eat?"

Answering Maia's question Alec nodded, even as he kept his eyes on Magnus. "They are. There's plenty in the cookie jar beside the stove."

"Then it's cookie time." Willing to help Magnus out Isabelle headed for the kitchen, the others following close behind so that they would get their share of the spoils. The cookies Jaden had had jammed into his mouth had looked pretty damn good to them.

Ignoring the sounds of yelling from the hallway Magnus turned his full attention to Alec. "So if Diggory screws this up, and he probably will, the kid is still going to the werewolves, understand? We are not adopting him, I am not training him, and if he continues to hang off you I am going to have to curse him."

Alec's lips twitched. "He's a little old for me to adopt."

Not the least amused Magnus wrapped his arms around the Shadowhunter, drawing Alec up against him so that Alec couldn't go anywhere. "You're not going to want to push me tonight. I came in intending to do things to that kid that would have shown you once and for all just how medieval my childhood was."

Knowing Magnus was serious Alec figured it was best to respond with the thing men had been saying since medieval times to keep their wives from running them through with the poor man's weapon of choice. "I'm sorry. I love you."

"And people say I'm a manipulating bastard." Magnus muttered, a hint of a smile on his lips before he leaned forward to press those lips against Alec's, the kiss an expression of the love he felt for the Shadowhunter in return.

Damn, he really was wrapped around Alec's little baby finger.

Magnus was just glad his idiot was too dense to realize it.


	5. Wrapping Things Up

Wrapping Things Up

Alec and Magnus broke off their kissing when the yelling from the hallway became too loud for them to ignore. Jaden was the first to come out, his cheeks red and his eyes alight with fury. It was actually a good look for him, Magnus thought as he watched the boy stomp angrily into the room.

Whirling around Jaden glared in the direction of the hallway and the warlock in it. "You go on home and don't you come back, you jerk! I'm staying here and you can't stop me, Bryan!" And that being said the young warlock marched in the direction of the kitchen, needing some more cookies to fortify him.

Wincing, Alec looked at Magnus ruefully.

Sighing, Magnus knew that the only way things were going to end the way he wanted it to was for him to step up and take over. "Go pat the kid's head some more and I'll deal with the idiot." He announced, turning Alec loose.

"Play nice." And on that note Alec said a little prayer and headed for the kitchen.

But Magnus had no intention of playing nice. It was playing nice that was causing all the problems. The two idiots needed a good, hard kick to the ass as far as he was concerned and he was more than ready to deliver.

Walking over to the mouth of the hallway Magnus stared at his pathetic foe, the warlock leaning against the wall while massaging his temples. Normally he would have stood back and enjoyed the other man's misery, but tonight he needed the man happy and with his stupid ward. Because if Jaden wasn't with Diggory than he was going to be with Alec. Magnus knew it in his gut. And that was so not going to happen.

He wouldn't be doing the kid any favors returning him to Diggory, but Magnus figured that if the kid really did love the simpering prick than it was in both their interests for him to land his man.

Moving to stand in front of the warlock Magnus cleared his throat. "You're a dumbass, you know that right?"

"If I wanted to know what you thought I'd ask, Bane."

"Well, while you're wallowing in your gross stupidity, here's some food for thought. If you don't find a way to un attach your boy from mine, I'm going to be spending an awful lot of time with your Jaden. And knowing Alec, and I do, he'll want me to take over your boy's warlock training. Which means, FYI, that in order for me to be able to bear having him as my apprentice, I'm going to have to turn him into someone I can stand to be around for long periods of time. That means that the next time you see your Jaden he could be wearing a lot of leather and glitter. He might even have his hair spiked and dyed rainbow colors. It's possible you know, he seems the eager to please type. And just imagine the kind of damage I could do in less than a month. Just imagine it."

Bryan went white as a sheet, staring at the other warlock in true horror. That there was one Magnus Bane in the world was already a horrendous crime against nature. That there could be two of them was a crime the world would never forgive him for.

"So what's it going to be, Diggory? Are you going to man up or am I going to have to turn your boy toy into a mini me?"

Shuddering at the thought, Bryan gave Magnus a desperate look. "What do you expect me to do? You saw how unreasonable he's being. And you are not allowed to turn him into you, Bane, get that through your gel encrusted head. He's a sweet kid; you've got no business corrupting him with your perversity."

Magnus just rolled his eyes. "I can corrupt him all I want if you don't stop me."

"That's blackmail!"

"Glad you finally caught on. So what's it going to be, Diggory?"

Bryan glared. "How am I supposed to talk sense to him when he refuses to listen?"

"Well first of all, let's get one thing straight, once and for all. How do you feel about the kid? Are you at all interested in getting him naked? He is pretty cute in a boy toy sort of way."

Bryan went red, stuttering in a way that made his answer impossible to understand.

"I'm going to take that as undecided on the getting naked thing." Rolling his eyes Magnus wondered why the other warlock hadn't just offed himself after the Victorian era. The man had been right at home with the prim, uptight idiots. "So how about you give him a chance to win you over? You two can go from there and if it doesn't work he can come crying back to Alec and I'll find him a nice boyfriend instead. I know plenty of guys who would just eat him up with a spoon."

Bryan took a threatening step towards Magnus. "There will be no eating Jaden!"

"We'll see."Magnus shot back in a sing song tone meant to send Bryan's blood pressure through the roof. "We'll see."

)

Once he was sure Bryan had plenty of horrifying images of Jaden's fate in his head Magnus headed for the kitchen, a very pale Diggory following after him in a daze. Walking over to the kitchen table Magnus took a seat across from Jaden, Bryan remaining in the doorway, leaning against it for support.

Giving Alec a look that said plainly not to interfere, Magnus turned all his attention to Jaden.

"Well, kid, you've already had a mother, and since you've decided Alec is your father than that makes me your evil step mother. And I can be evil, believe me. And if you know your fairy tales than you know evil step mothers usually try to kill and or dispose of their step children in creative and often painful ways. Lucky you, I'm the Disney version step mother, so I'm more wicked than evil."

"That's debatable." Bryan muttered from the doorway.

Magnus sent the older man a look that told him to shut up or else.

Jaden struggled to keep his face straight. The way Magnus and Bryan behaved was starting to strike him as seriously hilarious. Plus, Magnus Bane couldn't be as badass as everyone said he was if Alec loved him as much as he thought the Shadowhunter did. "I don't blame you for not liking me very much." Jaden told the famous warlock, returning Magnus's attention to him. "I did try to kill Alec after all."

Looking into the boy's sad, puppy dog eyes, Magnus felt a nudging of his conscience. Things had certainly gone downhill in the conscience department since he'd hooked up with Alec, Magnus thought sadly. He hated having one this developed.

"I wouldn't say I'm not mad about what you did, and it goes without saying that you would have died a horrific, painful, and utterly inhumane death had you actually killed him, but I do get loving someone to the point where you behave beyond stupidly. Believe me, I get it. Which is why I'm cutting you enough slack not to zap the hell out of you."

"Thanks for that." Jaden worked up a small smile, even as he imagined just how he would have suffered at the other man's hand. There was something about the gleam that had gone into the man's cat eyes that made him think that Bane hadn't been exaggerating the inhumane part.

He was never so glad that he was too much of a wimp to kill anyone.

"You're welcome." And hoping he got this right, Magnus crossed his arms in front of him, putting on his serious game face. "Look, Bryan is an idiot. Anyone who's ever met him will agree with me. What you see in him is beyond me, but I'm dating a guy who has less fashion sense than my cat. Love makes no sense, and some things are worth overlooking when your heart's involved. And yours obviously is. For reasons that escape me."

Jaden grinned wryly. "He grows on you."

"Like a fungus. I can see that." Especially given how Diggory dressed most if the time. The man did not wear color, ever. "And being the fungus sort, he isn't terribly bright. Which means that yes, he absolutely had no idea how you felt about him. He really is that stupid. And that in mind you need to realize that you're being stupid by running off without giving him time to think about what you said. Given how thick his skull is, you're probably looking at at least a decade before everything you said tonight sinks in."

Bryan lashed out without thinking. "This is why your father tried to drown you in a-"

Bang

The eight inch blade of the kitchen knife vibrated beside Bryan's head, thrown with such a force that it buried halfway into the wall. No one had seen it coming.

Everyone looked from the knife to Alec, who was leaning up against the kitchen counter beside the butcher block. Alec drummed his fingers by the block without taking his eyes off Bryan for a second. The look on his face promised that the next knife would not be a warning shot.

"Damn you're hot." Getting to his feet Magnus hurried over to grab Alec by the front of his shirt, the warlock giving his man one hell of a kiss while the Shadowhunter blushed bright pink. Deliberately Magnus pushed aside what Diggory had said and instead focused on the fact that he had someone who loved him enough to throw knives at people who were mean to him. And how great was that!

Jace, Isabelle and Maia stared and than laughed, Clary just shaking her head and marveling over how much her life had changed since she'd met the Lightwoods.

Jaden looked over at Clary, who was sitting beside him. "Why did Alec just throw a knife?"

"Your guardian was about to say something…really, really, not nice." Clary glared at the warlock now, obviously wishing Alec had thrown a few more things at the older man. Alec had gone a long way towards healing Magnus's heart, but bringing up the warlock's family was lower than low.

Jaden looked over at Bryan, his eyes narrowing as he watched his guardian yank the blade out of the wall. He didn't have to be a genius to figure out what the man had intended to say. He was as horrified to learn what Magnus's father had tried to do that as he was that Bryan would throw that into the poor man's face.

Twirling the blade between his fingers Bryan reluctantly met Jaden's gaze, honestly regretting his words. "She's right. I shouldn't have said that. I'll apologize to Bane as soon as he comes up for air." And he'd rather be dragged across broken glass for five blocks than apologize to the man. That should count for something. But from the look Jaden was giving him Bryan doubted that he was going to be cut any slack at all.

And to his credit, in everyone else's eyes, Bryan really did apologize when Magnus finally turned a bright red Alec loose. The apology was stilted and stammered at some points, but he obviously meant it which was what counted.

Thanks to Alec, Magnus was in a good enough mood to accept it. Plus, he was man enough to admit that he might have been stressing Diggory's stupidity just a little too much.

"And now that we have that cleared up I'll take it from here as your darling auntie." Isabelle announced, having figured out that Magnus could not be allowed to continue his rant without bloodshed occurring. "Jaden, what Magnus was trying to say was that you need to work on Bryan some before you give up completely. Bryan obviously cares about you and if he wasn't at least a little bit interested than he would have left by now. As an honorary member of the Lightwood family you have to go after the person you love and fight to catch him until you can fight no more. Cause if you don't, kiddo, you're gonna be playing the shoulda, coulda, wouldas for a very, very, very long time."

"Coming from you that's almost profound." Jace smirked.

"Bite me, bro."

"Heck no. I know where you've been."

Rolling his eyes at them Alec gave serious thought to whacking his siblings' heads together. It wasn't like it would do that much damage given their equally hard heads. And he was really, really starting to get tired here. It had been a long day.

Looking at how stressed out his honorary dad was getting Jaden decided that his honorary auntie was right. Sometimes a man just had to do what a man had to do.

The young warlock took a deep breath, got out of his seat, and marched over to where Bryan was standing. Arms crossed in front of him, Jaden was all business as he stared up into the face of the annoying man fate had stuck him with.

"All right, I'll come home with you. I'll give you a decade to fall in love with me and realize that I'm the best thing that's every happened to you, you stupid warlock. And if by the end of that you're still clueless I'm coming back here and I'm going to let Alec get Magnus to hook me up with some of his friends."

"You do not want to be hooked up with any of that guy's friends." Bryan protested.

"That's your opinion." Jaden sniffed, not backing down an inch. "But I'm not getting any younger and I don't intend to spend my considerable lifetime without someone in the bed beside me. I'm over a hundred years old and it's about time I got some action, dammit!"

"Ouch." Isabelle winced. "Okay, if Magnus's friends don't work out we'll move on to my friends. Magnus, we really have to help this kid out ASAP."

"You are not pimping him out." Alec ordered, giving his sister and boyfriend harsh looks.

Seeing where this was going Bryan reached out and grabbed one of Jaden's hands, shaking it fiercely. "I'll take your deal."

Jaden blinked in surprise a couple of times, than smiled. Yes, Bryan was probably only taking the deal to 'save' him from Magnus's influence, but it was still a start. And Isabelle was right, it was too soon to give up just yet. If he was willing to kidnap someone for Bryan, he sure as hell should be willing to do whatever was necessary to land the man of his dreams too. "Okay then. It's a deal. Now let's wrap this up before blood is shed by anyone. It's been a long, long day."

"Yeah." Linking his fingers through Jaden's Bryan squeezed the younger man's hand, silently communicating their continued unity.

Jaden squeezed back, smiling up at him with newfound confidence.

)

After that everyone said their good byes, Jaden and Bryan opted to stay in the apartment and talk things out in more detail without the others there to interfere or give their opinions. Everyone agreed that was probably best, Maia, Isabelle, Clary and Alec all giving Jaden their cell phone numbers before they left. If he needed them, he'd be able to get ahold of them no problem. Magnus wasn't pleased that the kid had Alec's number, but at least the kid didn't have Alec.

Heading downstairs after dragging Alec away from an overly affectionate Jaden, Magnus bid the rest of their group adieu while keeping a very tight grip on Alec. His man was not going anywhere without him and he didn't want company either.

Waving them off after giving the others the first cab, Magnus and Alec stood on the curb and waited for the next cab to hail in comfortable silence.

Squeezing the hand that held his Alec looked over at Magnus with affection. "So if Diggory screws this up…how upset are you going to be when Jaden clings to me like a burr?"

"I'll just attach him to someone else, permanently."

Alec gave his man a wry look, shaking his head in amusement. "You know, I always blamed the fathers of those ill fated children for sticking them with such wicked step mothers."

Magnus laughed, leaning in to place a kiss against Alec's exposed neck. "You like that I'm wicked."

"Can't argue with that."

The two sharing a long, lingering kiss, they broke apart when they heard meowing coming from their feet. Both men looking down they laughed when they saw a familiar white tuff of fur meowing for their attention at their feet, looking up at them with bright, questioning eyes.

Bending down Magnus scooped up the hamster sized cat, lifting his pet up to eye level. "How on earth did you get way out here?" It constantly amazed him how skilled his cat was at ending up in the most unlikely of places. The cat had serious skills.

"Guess he missed his mommy." Alec teased, reaching out to scratch Chairman Meow behind his tiny ears, the cat purring madly as he moved under the Shadowhunter's skillful fingers.

"And his mommy wants daddy's attention too." Magnus purred back, cradling Chairman Meow in his cupped hands as he leaned over for another kiss.

And with their other honorary kid purring away in between them Magnus and Alec got busy making sure that anyone who saw them couldn't possibly misunderstand just how in love they really were.

The End


End file.
